Philosophy: metaphysics and ontology Books

Book SynopsisThe Logic Manual is a clear and concise introduction to logic for beginning philosophy students. It offers a complete introductory course, guiding the reader carefully through the topics in logic that are most important for the study of philosophy. It covers propositional and predicate logic with and without identity. It includes an account of the semantics of these languages including definitions of truth and satisfaction. Natural deduction is used as a proof system. Volker Halbach introduces the essential concepts through examples and informal explanations as well as through abstract definitions. The Logic Manual provides the best entry to the general abstract way of thinking about language, logic, and semantics which is characteristic of contemporary philosophy. Exercises, examples, and sample examination papers are provided on an accompanying website.Table of Contents1. Sets, Relations, and Arguments ; 2. Syntax and Semantics of Propositional Logic ; 3. Formalisation in Propositional Logic ; 4. The Syntax of Predicate Logic ; 5. The Semantics of Predicate Logic ; 6. Natural Deduction ; 7. Formalisation in Predicate Logic ; 8. Identity and Definite Descriptions ; Natural Deduction Rules

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Book SynopsisThis new translation of Aristotle's Metaphysics in its entirety is a model of accuracy and consistency, presented with a wealth of annotation and commentary. Sequentially numbered endnotes provide the information most needed at each juncture, while a detailed Index of Terms guides the reader to places where focused discussion of key notions occurs. An illuminating general Introduction describes the book that lies ahead, explaining what it is about, what it is trying to do, how it goes about doing it, and what sort of audience it presupposes.Trade Review"C. D. C. Reeve adds to his already remarkable series of translations of Plato and Aristotle another stellar accomplishment: a full translation of Aristotle's daunting Metaphysics. He has managed to present Aristotle’s often ungainly Greek into perfectly flowing English syntax without sacrificing the core meaning of the text. Any translator of Aristotle will recognize what an impressive achievement this is. All readers will benefit from the over 1,600 explicative notes accompanying the translation: Reeve has a discerning eye for determining what requires amplification for the purposes of understanding and an admirable gift for saying just as much as needs to be said in order to achieve it." —Christopher Shields, George N. Shuster Professor of Philosophy, University of Notre Dame"C. D. C. Reeve's new translation of Aristotle's Metaphysics is a very welcome tool for students, teachers, and scholarly readers. This accurate translation comes with a wealth of notes that explain Aristotle's thought or refer to or quote parallel passages from other parts of the Metaphysics or other Aristotelian works." —Mirjam E. Kotwick, University of Cincinnati, in Ancient Philosophy"Reeve's emendations and translations are philosophically sensitive and he scrupulously offers the alternatives in his notes. I can't fault his translation strategy, which balances literalism and readability without sacrificing accuracy and empowers readers to evaluate his choices. The interpretive notes Reeve offers are useful, but are not intended to serve as a full commentary. They will, however, help students and provide a rich resource of inspiration for researchers. The learning, skill and range exhibited by Reeve are astonishing. In short, if you teach or research Aristotle, Reeve offers a valuable addition to the English-language resources on the Metaphysics." —Matthew Duncombe, University of Nottingham, in Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews

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Book SynopsisThe present framing of the cultural debate in terms of materialism versus religion has allowed materialism to go unchallenged as the only rationally-viable metaphysics. This book seeks to change this. It uncovers the absurd implications of materialism and then, uniquely, presents a hard-nosed non-materialist metaphysics substantiated by skepticism, hard empirical evidence, and clear logical argumentation. It lays out a coherent framework upon which one can interpret and make sense of every natural phenomenon and physical law, as well as the modalities of human consciousness, without materialist assumptions. According to this framework, the brain is merely the image of a self-localization process of mind, analogously to how a whirlpool is the image of a self-localization process of water. The brain doesn't generate mind in the same way that a whirlpool doesn't generate water. It is the brain that is in mind, not mind in the brain. Physical death is merely a de-clenching of awareness. The book closes with a series of educated speculations regarding the afterlife, psychic phenomena, and other related subjects.Trade ReviewBernardo Kastrup's book is another nail in the coffin of the superstition of materialism. With elegant clarity he explains that mind, brain & cosmos are what consciousness does. Rupert Sheldrake, Ph.D., author of Science Set Free / The Science Delusion - It's important that this message is widely disseminated. --Deepak Chopra, M.D., best-selling author

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Book SynopsisIn the most rigorous articulation of his philosophical system to date, Slavoj Žižek provides nothing short of a new definition of dialectical materialism.In forging this new materialism, Žižek critiques and challenges not only the work of Alain Badiou, Robert Brandom, Joan Copjec, Quentin Meillassoux, and Julia Kristeva (to name but a few), but everything from popular science and quantum mechanics to sexual difference and analytic philosophy. Alongside striking images of the Möbius strip, the cross-cap, and the Klein bottle, Žižek brings alive the Hegelian triad of being-essence-notion. Radical new readings of Hegel, and Kant, sit side by side with characteristically lively commentaries on film, politics, and culture.Here is Žižek at his interrogative best.Trade Review[This] is certainly the best organized and clearly structured of the author's “big” books … Žižek's writing style is much clearer (relatively speaking) than it was in earlier works and thus reflects the fact that many careless readers have (mis)read him simplistically … Summing Up: Highly recommended. Graduate students, researchers, faculty. * CHOICE *Few thinkers illustrate the contradictions of contemporary capitalism better than Slavoj Žižek. * John Gray, New York Review of Books *Like Socrates on steroids ... breathtakingly perceptive. The most formidably brilliant exponent of psychoanalysis, indeed of cultural theory in general, to have emerged in many decades * Terry Eagleton *The excitable fluency, ursine congeniality and gleeful readiness to provoke and offend all feed the sense of authentic sponanaeity and energy that has made Žižek somethig like European philosophy’s punk icon, packing out auditoriums around the world. * Josh Cohen, New Statesman *A gifted speaker—tumultuous, emphatic, direct—he writes as he speaks. * Jonathan Rée, Guardian *The most dangerous philosopher in the West * Adam Kirsch, New Republic *Žižek leaves no social or cultural phenomenon untheorized, and is master of the counterintuitive observation * New Yorker *A penetrating new study that redefines a term that most would be wary of returning to: dialectical materialism. What the feeling of déjà vu in reading Sex and the Failed Absolute does come from is the re-experiencing of the excitement that characterised reading his first book back in 1989. * Scottish Left Review *a relentless iconoclast, a restless wordsmith, an inventive thinker with a hatred of received wisdom, an underminer of conventionally acknowledged truths. * Bookforum *Sex and the Failed Absolute is to Žižek’s corpus what Malevich’s Black Square was to his artistic oeuvre. In this watershed book, interweaving the odd couple of quantum physics and sexuality, Žižek offers readers the distilled essence of a new dialectical materialism. This reinvents the very foundations of Žižekian ontology * Adrian Johnston, Professor and Chair of Philosophy, University of New Mexico, U.S.A *Table of ContentsINTRODUCTION: THE UNORIENTABLE SURFACE OF DIALECTICAL MATERIALISM THEOREM I: THE PARALLAX OF ONTOLOGY Modalities of the Absolute—Reality and Its Transcendental Supplement – Varieties of the Transcendental in Western Marxism - The Margin of Radical Uncertainty COROLLARY 1: INTELLECTUAL INTUITION AND INTELLECTUS ARCHETYPUS: REFLEXIVITY IN KANT AND HEGEL Intellectual Intuition from Kant to Hegel—From Intellectus Ectypus to Intellectus Archetypus SCHOLIUM 1.1: BUDDHA, KANT, HUSSERL SCHOLIUM 1.2: HEGEL’S PARALLAX SCHOLIUM 1.3: THE “DEATH OF TRUTH” THEOREM II: SEX AS OUR BRUSH WITH THE ABSOLUTE Antinomies of Pure Sexuation—Sexual Parallax and Knowledge—The Sexed Subject - Plants, Animals, Humans, Posthumans COROLLARY 2: SINUOSITIES OF SEXUALIZED TIME Days of the Living Dead – Cracks in Circular Time SCHOLIUM 2.1: SCHEMATISM IN KANT, HEGEL… AND SEX SCHOLIUM 2.2: MARX, BRECHT, AND SEXUAL CONTRACTS SCHOLIUM 2.3: THE HEGELIAN REPETITION SCHOLIUM 2.4: SEVEN DEADLY SINS THEOREM III: THE THREE UNORIENTABLES Möbius Strip, or, the Convolutions of Concrete Universality—The “Inner Eight”—(((Suture Redoubled)))—Cross-Capping Class Struggle—From Cross-Cap to Klein Bottle—A Snout in Plato’s Cave COROLLARY 3: THE RETARDED GOD OF QUANTUM ONTOLOGY The Implications of Quantum Gravity—The Two Vacuums: From Less than Nothing to Nothing – Is the Collapse of a Quantum Wave Like a Throw of Dice? SCHOLIUM 3.1: THE ETHICAL MOEBIUS STRIP SCHOLIUM 3.2: THE DARK TOWER OF SUTURE SCHOLIUM 3.3: SUTURE AND HEGEMONY SCHOLIUM 3.4: THE WORLD WITH(OUT) A SNOUT SCHOLIUM 3.5: TOWARDS A QUANTUM PLATONISM THEOREM IV: THE PERSISTENCE OF ABSTRACTION Madness, Sex, War— How to Do Words with Things—The Inhuman View – The All-Too-Close In-Itself COROLLARY 4: IBI RHODUS IBI SALTUS! The Protestant Freedom—Jumping Here and Jumping There—Four Ethical Gestures SCHOLIUM 4.1: LANGUAGE, LALANGUE SCHOLIUM 4.2 - PROKOFIEV’S TRAVELS SCHOLIUM 4.3: BECKETT AS THE WRITER OF ABSTRACTION

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Book SynopsisThis book is an experiment. Inspired by the bizarre and uncanny, it is an attempt to use science and rationality to lift the veil off the irrational. Its ways are unconventional: weaving along its path one finds UFOs and fairies, quantum mechanics, analytic philosophy, history, mathematics, and depth psychology. The enterprise of constructing a coherent story out of these incommensurable disciplines is exploratory. But if the experiment works, at the end these disparate threads will come together to unveil a startling scenario about the nature of reality. The payoff is handsome: a reason for hope, a boost for the imagination, and the promise of a meaningful future. Yet this book may confront some of your dearest notions about truth and reason. Its conclusions cannot be dismissed lightly, because the evidence this book compiles and the philosophy it leverages are solid in the orthodox, academic sense.

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Book Synopsis''Mindblowing'' Michael PollanWhy do we know so much more about the cosmos than our own consciousness? Are there limits to the scientific method? Why do we assume that only science, mathematics and technology reveal truth?The Flip shows us what happens when we realise that consciousness is fundamental to the cosmos and not some random evolutionary accident or surface cognitive illusion; that everything is alive, connected, and ''one''. We meet the people who have made this visionary, intuitive leap towards new forms of knowledge: Mark Twain''s prophetic dreams, Marie Curie''s séances, Einstein''s cosmically attuned mind. But these forms of knowledge are not archaic; indeed, they are essential in a universe that has evolved specifically to be understandable by the consciousnesses we inhabit.The Flip peels back the layers of our beliefs about the world to reveal a visionary, new way of understanding ourselves and everything around us, withTrade ReviewOne of the most provocative new books of the year, and, for me, mindblowing -- Michael PollanWonderfully rich. . . . Reading this book is an embodied experience; it is yoga for the mind. The Flip is an important book that deserves a broad readership both inside and outside the academy * Reading Religion *[The Flip] will ignite conversations about the limits of science and the potential for dramatic shifts in perspective * Publishers Weekly *[Kripal offers] a genuinely hopeful vision of what we yet could be in the mirror of what we have been -- Deepak ChopraKripal makes many sympathetic points about the present spiritual state of America. . . . [He] continues to believe that spirituality and science should not contradict each other, and that the Cartesian split between mind and body can be transcended * New York Times Book Review *[His] work will likely become more and more relevant to more and more areas of inquiry as the century unfolds. It may even open up a new space for Americans to reevaluate the personal and cultural narratives they have inherited, and to imagine alternative futures. * Los Angeles Review of Books *

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Book SynopsisThis book is a defense of modal realism; the thesis that our world is but one of a plurality of worlds, and that the individuals that inhabit our world are only a few out of all the inhabitants of all the worlds.Table of ContentsPreface. 1. A Philosopher's Paradise. The Thesis of Pluraliry of Worlds. Modal Realism at Work: Modality. Modal Realism at Work: Closeness. Modal Realism at Work: Content. Modal Realism at Work: Properties. Isolation. Concreteness. Plenitude. Actuality. 2. Paradox in Paradise?. Everything is Actual?. All Worlds in One?. More Worlds Than There Are?. How Can We Know?. A Road to Scepticism?. A Road to Indifference?. Arbitrariness Lost?. The Incredulous Stare. 3. Paradise on the Cheap?. The Ersatzist Program. Linguistic Ersatzism. Pictorial Ersatzism. Magical Ersatzism. 4. Counterparts or Double Lives?. Good Questions and Bad. Against Overlap. Against Trans-World Individuals. Against Haecceitism. Against Constancy. Works Cited. Index.

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Book SynopsisA unique collaboration to map the ontology and epistemology of the human-plant relationship.Trade ReviewThrough Vegetal Being foregrounds the relations that plants enable between humans and other living things, continuing both Michael Marder's work on plant existence and Luce Irigaray's work on sexual difference and the forgetting of the world in the constitution of individual identity. This charming and beautifully written book is a two-person meditation on the philosophy, ontology, and ethics of plant life and our fundamental dependence on it as living beings. -- Elizabeth Grosz, Jean Fox O'Barr Women's Studies Professor at Duke University Through Vegetal Being explores what the vegetal realm can offer to philosophy and the tradition of western metaphysics. The two voices in dialogue-legendary feminist thinker Luce Irigaray and acclaimed philosopher Michael Marder-engage the critique of metaphysics from a perspective that is largely without precedent, thus cross pollinating between such intellectual fields as continental philosophy, environmentalism, gardening, and botany. -- William Egginton, Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the Humanities at the Johns Hopkins University Luce Irigaray and Michael Marder have written an admirable and singular book, where they recover two aspects of philosophy that have been otherwise forgotten. On the one hand, they return to a reflection on our condition as living beings, the context in which and thanks to which we exist. On the other hand, their method is an epistolary dialogue, a genre that has given us some of the most profound and least abstract insights along the history of philosophy. -- Daniel Innerarity, author of Governance in the New Global Disorder Luce Irigaray and Michael Marder surprise us with a moving foray into life in its barest, elemental traits. By tapping into the pulse and silent language shared by all animate beings, they unsettle received philosophical narratives and awaken modes of sensibility both subtle and expanded. The contact with the mystery of vegetal life renews the investigation into human becoming, its potentiality and cultivation. -- Claudia Baracchi, University of Milano-BicoccaTable of ContentsPreface Luce Irigaray Prologue 1. Seeking Refuge in the Vegetal World 2. A Culture Forgetful of Life 3. Sharing Universal Breathing 4. The Generative Potential of the Elements 5. Living at the Rhythm of the Seasons 6. A Recovery of the Amazing Diversity of Natural Presence 7. Cultivating Our Sensory Perceptions 8. Feeling Nostalgia for a Human Companion 9. Risking to Go Back Among Humans 10. Losing Oneself and Asking Nature for Help Again 11. Encountering Another Human in the Woods 12. Wondering How to Cultivate Our Living Energy 13. Could Gestures and Words Substitute for the Elements? 14. From Being Alone in Nature to Being Two in Love 15. Becoming Humans 16. Cultivating and Sharing Life Between All Epilogue Notes Michael Marder Prologue 1. Seeking Refuge in the Vegetal World 2. A Culture Forgetful of Life 3. Sharing Universal Breathing 4. The Generative Potential of the Elements 5. Living at the Rhythm of the Seasons 6. A Recovery of the Amazing Diversity of Natural Presence 7. Cultivating Our Sensory Perceptions 8. Feeling Nostalgia for a Human Companion 9. Risking to Go Back Among Humans 10. Losing Oneself and Asking Nature for Help Again 11. Encountering Another Human in the Woods 12. Wondering How to Cultivate Our Living Energy 13. Could Gestures and Words Substitute for the Elements? 14. From Being Alone in Nature to Being Two in Love 15. Becoming Humans 16. Cultivating and Sharing Life Between All Epilogue Notes Index

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewOne of Science Friday's Best Science Books of 2015, chosen by Maria Popova One of The Independent.ie Irish Writers' Top Reads 2015 One of Brainpickings' The Best Science Books of 2015 "The Physicist and the Philosopher is an extraordinarily rich and wide-ranging work. Canales has rescued from near oblivion a fascinating, highly significant debate that is still relevant in an age which has begun uneasily to question the hegemony of science and its uncontrollable child, technology."--John Banville, London Review of Books "In illuminating a historic 1922 debate between Albert Einstein and Henri Bergson about the nature of time, Canales marks a turning point in the power of philosophy to influence science."--Publishers Weekly "Sparks--both incendiary and illuminating--fly from the collision of two giants!"--Booklist, starred review "This fascinating, scholarly, readable look at physics and epistemology will interest readers of science, history, philosophy, and biography."--Library Journal, starred review "Whether or not you agree, this humane and melancholy account of how two talents misunderstood each other will linger in the mind."--New Scientist "[Canales] weaves a tale around Europe and to America... [Her] subject raises important core philosophical issues, like the scope of philosophy itself."--Michael Ruse, The Chronicle of Higher Education "This fascinating book traces a debate about the nature of time... Canales has done a masterful job of research and explication. Her account of the debate is lively, the background of it is interesting, and the debate's ramifications as filtered through other minds are downright exciting. Anyone interested in physics or philosophy will have a field day with this book."--Kelly Cherry, The Smart Set "Canales does sterling work investigating these engagements ... [A] stimulating book."--Graham Farmelo, Nature "In The Physicist and the Philosopher, Canales recounts how Bergson challenged Einstein's theories, arguing that time is not a fourth dimension definable by scientists but a 'vital impulse,' the source of creativity. It was an incendiary topic at the time, and it shaped a split between science and humanities that persisted for decades--though Einstein was generally seen as the winner and Bergson is all but forgotten."--Nancy Szokan, Washington Post "A book remarkable both for its profound research and for its elegance in presentation. Intellectual history should always be so accessible."--Benjamin Franklin Martin, Key Reporter "[General and professional readers] will learn much from a study that is accessible and edifying to a great diversity of readers."--Choice "The Physicist and the Philosopher ... is at least three things: a monument to precise scholarship, an exemplar of logical clarity, and a fine example of excellent writing. I have rarely learned more from a book."--Peter A.Y. Gunter, Physics in Perspective "Brilliant."--James Gleick, Bits in the Ether "A masterwork of cultural forensics."--Maria Popova, Brainpickings "It's hard to imagine that any single author will ever outdo this account of the recent history of our concepts of time."--Chris Nunn, Journal of Consciousness Studies "A gripping critique of Einstein's thought and a convincing rehabilitation of Bergsonian time, freed from the tyranny of mathematics."--Hilary Davies, The TabletTable of ContentsPreface vii PART 1. THE DEBATE CHAPTER 1 Untimely 3 CHAPTER 2 "More Einsteinian than Einstein" 16 CHAPTER 3 Science or Philosophy? 38 PART 2. THE MEN CHAPTER 4 The Twin Paradox 53 CHAPTER 5 Bergson's Achilles' Heel 62 CHAPTER 6 Worth Mentioning? 73 CHAPTER 7 Bergson Writes to Lorentz 87 CHAPTER 8 Bergson Meets Michelson 98 CHAPTER 9 The Debate Spreads 114 CHAPTER 10 Back from Paris 131 CHAPTER 11 Two Months Later 139 CHAPTER 12 Logical Positivism 153 CHAPTER 13 The Immediate Aftermath 162 CHAPTER 14 An Imaginary Dialogue 172 CHAPTER 15 "Full-Blooded" Time 179 CHAPTER 16 The Previous Spring 195 CHAPTER 17 The Church 203 CHAPTER 18 The End of Universal Time 218 CHAPTER 19 Quantum Mechanics 230 PART 3. THE THINGS CHAPTER 20 Things 241 CHAPTER 21 Clocks and Wristwatches 252 CHAPTER 22 Telegraph, Telephone, and Radio 265 CHAPTER 23 Atoms and Molecules 274 CHAPTER 24 Einstein's Films: Reversible 283 CHAPTER 25 Bergson's Movies: Out of Control 292 CHAPTER 26 Microbes and Ghosts 303 CHAPTER 27 One New Point: Recording Devices 315 PART 4. THE WORDS CHAPTER 28 Bergson's Last Comments 327 CHAPTER 29 Einstein's Last Thoughts 337 Postface 349 Acknowledgments 359 Notes 363 Bibliography 423 Index 451

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Book SynopsisTimaeus and Critias is a Socratic dialogue in two parts. A response to an account of an ideal state told by Socrates, it begins with Timaeus’s theoretical exposition of the cosmos and his story describing the creation of the universe, from its very beginning to the coming of man. Timaeus introduces the idea of a creator God and speculates on the structure and composition of the physical world. Critias, the second part of Plato’s dialogue, comprises an account of the rise and fall of Atlantis, an ancient, mighty and prosperous empire ruled by the descendents of Poseidon, which ultimately sank into the sea.For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and not

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"Carlisle’s book is a finely written and thoughtful introduction to Spinoza’s philosophy for anyone who is curious as to why this thinker, dead for almost 350 years, remains vitally relevant today"---Steven Nadler, Literary Review"[Carlisle] admirably establishes that Spinoza’s philosophy can be interpreted as a distinctive and original form of rational religion."---Carlos Fraenkel, Times Literary Supplement"Carlisle has done us a great service by offering a convincing and newly rounded portrayal—and by reminding us that you can never exhaust the majesty of Spnoza's religious writing."---Alex Dean, Prospect"An intimate, religious reading of Spinoza’s Ethics, which allows his peculiar religion to emerge with all its promise and paradox." * Choice Reviews *"Carlisle’s interpretation of Spinoza is consistently fresh and surprising. . . . This book steps decisively away from the modes of rational reconstruction and conceptual analysis that now dominate Spinoza scholarship in the English language, and is all the better for it. . . . An excellent book that will reward readers of Spinoza of all levels."---Beth Lord, Philosophy"I’m sure I’m not the only person who feels excited to explore the new world of interpretation that Carlisle has opened up by taking Spinoza’s religion seriously."---Alexander Douglas, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews"Spinoza’s Religion is a joy to read. . . . It is a book that has the power to bring Spinoza deeper into our hearts, making his words a companion n our efforts to live with greater equanimity and delight. Spinoza's Religion also poses a compelling challenge to what we think we know about Spinoza."---Hasana Sharp, Journal of the History of Philosophy

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Book SynopsisIn this landmark new book, Iain McGilchrist addresses some of the oldest and hardest questions humanity faces – ones that, however, have a practical urgency for all of us today. Who are we? What is the world? How can we understand consciousness, matter, space and time? Is the cosmos without purpose or value? Can we really neglect the sacred and divine? In doing so, he argues that we have become enslaved to an account of things dominated by the brain’s left hemisphere, one that blinds us to an awe-inspiring reality that is all around us, had we but eyes to see it. He suggests that in order to understand ourselves and the world we need science and intuition, reason and imagination, not just one or two; that they are in any case far from being in conflict; and that the brain’s right hemisphere plays the most important part in each. And he shows us how to recognise the ‘signature’ of the left hemisphere in our thinking, so as to avoid making decisions that bring disaster in their wake. Following the paths of cutting-edge neurology, philosophy and physics, he reveals how each leads us to a similar vision of the world, one that is both profound and beautiful – and happens to be in line with the deepest traditions of human wisdom. It is a vision that returns the world to life, and us to a better way of living in it: one we must embrace if we are to survive.Trade Review'It's very simple: this is one of the most important books ever published. And, yes, I do mean ever. It is a thrilling exposition of the nature of reality, and a devastating repudiation of the strident, banal orthodoxy that says it is childish and disreputable to believe that the world is alive with wonder and mystery. For McGilchrist the universe is a constantly evolving symphony; a gradual unfolding of an epic story. We urgently need to attune our ears to this music; to re-enchant the world and ourselves, and to confound those who say that there is only noise. No one else could have written this book. McGilchrist's range is as vast as the subject; which is everything. He is impeccably rigorous, fearlessly honest, and compellingly readable. Put everything else aside. Read this now to know what sort of creature you are and what sort of place you inhabit.' Professor Charles Foster, Oxford University, author of Being a Human and Being a Beast. 'The Matter with Things is a work of remarkable inspiration and erudition, written with the soul and subtlety of a poet, the precision of a philosopher, and the no nonsense grounding of a true scientist. In its pages, neuropsychology comes into conversation with philosophy, physics with poetry. Its author shows not just how our divided mind and brain makes us human, but how this gives us the potential both to understand and to misunderstand the world. Iain McGilchrist's book considers both great sources of awe and admiration: the starry heavens above as well as the mental life within. The author first offers intertwined analyses of brain function, cognition, and the structure of knowledge. Then he climbs his three-fold cord to a place from which one can survey the ultimate mysteries-the relationship of mind to matter, the concept of life, the contested role of purpose in the universe, and the nature of the sacred. McGilchrist is the most generous and talented of writers: his fluid account, brilliantly and beautifully argued-and meticulously researched-brings us along with him, step by step, until we too can discern the horizons of a reconfigured world. McGilchrist's appreciation of ambiguity and paradox only enhances the clarity and vitality of his thought. This is a book of surpassing, even world-historical ambition, and-still more rare-one that delivers on its promise.' Louis Sass, Distinguished Professor, Rutgers University; author of Madness and Modernism and of The Paradoxes of DelusionA magnificent achievement. The Master and His Emissary, Iain McGilchrist's earlier tour de force, ranks as a game-changer. It doesn't so much undermine common understandings of rationality as reframe them. The Matter with Things builds on that foundation, confirming the author's status as a leading contemporary polymath. With rarely matched clarity as well as deep learning, McGilchrist demonstrates not just that there is more to the world than matter, but also that there is more to matter itself than grasped by the shallow materialisms of our age.'; Rupert Shortt, Von Hugel Institute, University of Cambridge; and author of 'Outgrowing Dawkins: God for Grown-Ups' 'If we draw only on the left side of the brain, our culture paints a narrow picture composed via the hyper-specialism which bedevils contemporary intellectual life. In this sorry state, we badly need that now-almost-vanishingly rare personage, the true polymath. In Iain McGilchrist, in the nick of time, we have one. In this book, he draws quite magnificently on his post-disciplinary erudition precisely to explain how very much we lose when we draw only on the left hemisphere. If you want to understand why curiosity is in vogue but wonder is not; or why we aim directly at happiness and in doing so ineluctably become less happy; or why we like to talk about 'the environment' while Nature, upon which we utterly depend, we quietly desecrate; if you yearn to comprehend and question the rise of a desperate clinging to 'identity' within both the Left and the Right of politics; or if the way our civilisation tends to model human beings as machines disturbs or hurts you, then please read this book; for it sheds a profound light on these and so many other literally vital questions. If it were widely heeded, then perhaps, even at this late hour, our civilisation's merry march to a slow and brutal suicide might be halted. For this book is that most valuable of possible books: The Matter With Things is nothing less than a work of genius, diagnosing our dire predicament in full, and offering a way, instead.' Rupert Read, Professor of Philosophy, University of East Anglia; author of Wittgenstein's Liberatory Philosophy, This Civilisation is Finished and Parents for a Future.

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Book SynopsisAs featured in THE EDGE OF ALL WE KNOW - the new Netflix documentary about Black HolesFor readers of Stephen Hawking, a fascinating account of the universe from the perspective of world-leading astrophysicist Heino Falcke, who took the first ever picture of a black hole.10th April 2019: a global sensation. Heino Falcke, a man working at the boundaries of his discipline and therefore at the limits of the universe had used a network of telescopes spanning the entire planet to take the first picture of a black hole.Light in the Darkness examines how mankind has always looked to the skies, mapping the journey from millennia ago when we turned our gaze to the heavens, to modern astrophysics. Heino Falcke and Jorg Romer entertainingly and compellingly chart the breakthrough research of Falcke''s team, an unprecedented global community of international colleagues developing a telescope complex enough to look directly into a black hole - a hole wTrade ReviewHeino Falcke's book shows us how much stamina, curiosity, and fascination are required to persevere with a great scientific project against all naysayers * Berliner Zeitung *The technological and logistical challenges that the scientists engaged in the endeavour to produce an image of a black hole were faced with, and how they finally succeeded in the Spring of 2017 - all of this Falcke, with the help of journalist Jörg Römer, has turned into a wonderful book. * Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung *Light in the Darkness succeeds in making the invisible visible and the unimaginable imaginable * Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger *Falcke asks that we take seriously what black holes have to tell us and that we accept the limits of our knowledge. You don't see it very often that a scientist shows such modesty at the moment of his greatest triumph. One of the many strengths of this book * Neue Zürcher Zeitung *Heino Falcke's very personal book provides surprisingly revealing insights into the life of a researcher. It introduces the reader to the early history of astronomy and its modern foundation and does so in an accessible way * Neue Zürcher Zeitung am Sonntag *Heino Falcke does ground-breaking research into the universe's most mysterious phenomenon and at the very edge of space and time * From the statement of the jury for the Spinoza Prize *For me, Heino Falcke is the Man of the Year 2019, and the image of the black hole in the M87 galaxy that he and his team produced immediately became iconic. But Falcke isn't only a fantastic scientist, but also a gifted storyteller * New Scientist (Dutch edition) *Whoever reads Falcke's book won't just dive into a breathtaking scientific story but will also be in awe of the man himself. In spite - or maybe precisely because? - of his rigorous scientific work, this practicing Christian and minister keeps a room for god in his heart * Neue Ruhr Zeitung *Falcke and Römer pull off the trick of combining an individual and a cosmic perspective in the most illuminating and entertaining fashion * Der Freitag *

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Book SynopsisA young theoretical physicist''s guide to how the radical new science of counterfactuals can reveal the full scope of our universeThere is a vast class of properties that science has so far almost entirely neglected. These properties are central to an understanding of physical reality both at an everyday level and at the level of fundamental phenomena, yet they have traditionally been thought of as impossible to incorporate into fundamental explanations. They relate not only to what is true - the actual - but to what could be true - the counterfactual. This is the science of can and can''t.Chiara Marletto, a pioneer in this field, explores the promise that this fascinating, far-reaching approach holds not only for revolutionizing how fundamental physics is formulated, but also for confronting existing technological challenges, from delivering the next generation of information-processing devices to designing AI. In each chapter, Marletto sets out how counterfactuals can solve a vexed open problem in science, and demonstrates that by contemplating the possible as well as the actual, we can break down barriers to knowledge and form a more complete and fruitful picture of the universe.''Clear, sharp and imaginative... The Science of Can and Can''t will open the doors to a dazzling set of concepts and ideas that will change deeply the way you look at the world'' David Deutsch, bestselling author of The Beginning of InfinityTrade ReviewChiara Marletto is trying to build a master theory - a set of ideas so fundamental that all other theories would spring from it. Her first step: Invoke the impossible * Quanta Magazine *A wonderful book, which has taught me new ways of thinking and expanded my mind. It's extremely beautifully written, full of wonder and passion and humour and energy -- Hermione LeeClear, sharp and imaginative... The Science of Can and Can't will open the doors to a dazzling set of concepts and ideas that will change deeply the way you look at the world -- David Deutsch, author of The Beginning of InfinityI enjoyed this book very much, not least because of the freshness of its approach to a subject that can easily become hard for the non-scientific mind to grasp. The theory of 'can and can't' is an intriguing way of describing problems that are not only scientific (it describes very well what a storyteller does, for instance), and Marletto's account of some things I thought I more or less understood (the nature of digital information, for one) illuminated them from an angle that showed them more clearly than I'd seen them before. -- Philip PullmanA revolutionary recasting of physics... [It] re-enchants the world and enriches our place in it. * New Scientist *Hugely ambitious, Chiara Marletto is the herald for a revolutionary new direction for physics. This book is essential reading for anyone concerned with the future of physics -- Professor Lee Smolin, author of Time RebornChiara Marletto writes well about deep issues. I particularly like her suggestion that the current impasse in attempts to unite gravity and quantum mechanics might be broken if we concentrate on what things the two theories tell us can and can't be done -- Julian Barbour, author of The Janus Point[Marletto] calls for physics to move beyond its dependence on such conditions and rules as Newton's laws of motion, argues that the "traditional conception" of physics is limiting, and urges that counterfactuals offer a more complete picture of the physical world. Marletto leads a whirlwind tour of such scientific concepts as motion and the possibility of a perpetual motion machine; thermodynamics and "the theory of the universal constructor"; and quantum computing and the possibility of a universal quantum computer that uses "all of quantum theory" * Publishers Weekly *Novel and interesting -- Priyamvada Natarajan * Wall Street Journal *

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Book SynopsisIn this stimulating and timely book, Amit Goswami, PhD, shatters the widely popular belief held by Western science that matter is the primary stuff of creation and proposes instead that consciousness is the true foundation of all we know and perceive.   His explanation of quantum physics for lay readers, called a model of clarity by Kirkus Reviews, sets the stage for a voyage of discovery through the common ground of science and religion, the entwined nature of mind and body, and our interconnectedness with all of creation.

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Book SynopsisArgues that various forms of life are connected in a vast, entangling mesh and this interconnectedness penetrates different dimensions of life. This title investigates the profound philosophical, political, and aesthetic implications of the fact that these life forms are interconnected.Trade ReviewMorton writes from inside the ecological thought, not as its cheerleader or architect but as a latter-day Romantic. The great strength of this book is its genre inventiveness, and its main contribution is its performance of a thinking keyed to our time and place, a thinking with clear and immediate ethical implications. The Ecological Thought is crucial right now. -- Marjorie Levinson, University of MichiganPicking up where his most obvious predecessors, Gregory Bateson and Felix Guattari, left off, Morton understands mental ecology as the ground zero of ecological thinking, as that which must be redressed before anything else and above all. Morton goes beyond both his forebears, however, in repairing the rift between science and the humanities, which the Enlightenment opened up and against which Romanticism reacted. Perhaps most pleasantly surprising, given its erudition, is that in its stylistic elegance The Ecological Thought is as satisfying to read as it is necessary to ponder. -- Vince Carducci, College for Creative StudiesTimothy Morton has a unique take on ecology that challenges much of the alternative consciousness that floats around on the periphery of environmental circles. He offers a profound take on human possibilities. To Morton, human society and Nature are not two distinct things but rather two different angles on the same thing. * Tikkun *By suggesting imaginative ways to resolve other crises, could humanities scholars stave off the crisis engulfing their own subjects? Morton proposes a future in which the venerable ideas of "nature" and "environment" are so much detritus, useless for addressing a looming ecological catastrophe. His book exemplifies the "serious" humanities scholarship he makes a plea for. My head's still spinning. -- Noel Castree * Times Higher Education *Morton's The Ecological Thought rejects the romantic concept of nature as a passive foil to human action. The natural world, as it turns out, is not something outside of us; or, put another way: there is no difference between humans and our environment...He asks us to engage in "radical openness" as a way of practicing "radical coexistence," a state of being that we live even when we do not think much about it...Morton's book allows us to see our stirrings of sympathy for nonhuman beings such as strawberries as the beginning of a recognition that we have all--people and plants alike--lost long ago our presumed roots in an imagined natural world. -- Natania Meeker and Antónia Szabari * Los Angeles Review of Books *

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Book Synopsis''To read Being Ecological is to be caught up in a brilliant display of intellectual pyrotechnics'' P.D.Smith, GuardianWhy is everything we think we know about ecology wrong?Is there really any difference between ''humans'' and ''nature''?Does this mean we even have a future?Don''t care about ecology? This book is for you. Timothy Morton, who has been called ''Our most popular guide to the new epoch'' (Guardian), sets out to show us that whether we know it or not, we already have the capacity and the will to change the way we understand the place of humans in the world, and our very understanding of the term ''ecology''. A cross-disciplinarian who has collaborated with everyone from Björk to Hans Ulrich Obrist, Morton is also a member of the object-oriented philosophy movement, a group of forward-looking thinkers who are grappling with modern-day notions of subjectivity and objectivity, while also offering fascinating new un

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Book SynopsisIn 1970, John Lennon introduced to the world Alejandro Jodorowsky and the movie, El Topo,that he wrote, starred in, and directed. The movie and its author instantly became a counterculture icon. The New York Timessaid the film "demands to be seen," and Newsweekcalled it "An Extraordinary Movie!" But that was only the beginning of the story and the controversy of El Topo, and the journey of its brilliant creator. His spiritual quest began with the Japanese master Ejo Takata, the man who introduced him to the practice of meditation, Zen Buddhism, and the wisdom of the koans. Yet in this autobiographical account of his spiritual journey, Jodorowsky reveals that it was a small group of wisewomen, far removed from the world of Buddhism, who initiated him and taught him how to put the wisdom he had learned from his master into practice. At the direction of Takata, Jodorowsky became a student of the surrealist painter Leonora Carrington, thus beginning a journey in which vital spiritual lessons were transmitted to him by various women who were masters of their particular crafts. These women included Doña Magdalena, who taught him "initiatic" or spiritual massage; the powerful Mexican actress known as La Tigresa (the "tigress"); and Reyna D'Assia, daughter of the famed spiritual teacher G. I. Gurdjieff. Other important wisewomen on Jodorowsky's spiritual path include María Sabina, the priestess of the sacred mushrooms; the healer Pachita; and the Chilean singer Violeta Parra. The teachings of these women enabled him to discard the emotional armor that was hindering his advancement on the path of spiritual awareness and enlightenment.Trade Review"Rather than clarifying the meaning of his imagery, this book only inspires readers to enjoy its 'mystery'. . . . a worthy read, filled with growing pains and crises that end in artistic triumph and achievement of wisdom and compassion." * Griselda Steiner, Scene4 Magazine, Jan 2009 *"Jodorowsky's interactions with the motley crew of magas are fascinating and his words are always entertaining . . . " * filmcomment, Film Society of Lincoln Center, NYC, Sep/Oct 2008 *"How this man has lived into the koan of his life is intriguing and vividly related." * Branches of Light, Issue 33, Fall-Winter-Spring 2008-09 *" . . . for anyone who enjoys reading memoirs about truly interesting and influential people, this is definitely a book to check out." * Curled Up with a Good Book, Nov 2008 *Table of ContentsPrologue 1 “Intellectual, Learn to Die!” 2 The Secret of Koans 3 A Surrealist Master 4 A Step in the Void 5 The Slashes of the Tigress’s Claws 6 The Donkey Was Not Ill-Tempered after So Many Blows from the Stick7 From Skin to Soul 8 Like Snow in a Silver Vase 9 Work on the Essence 10 Master to Disciple, Disciple to Master, Disciple to Disciple, Master to MasterAppendix: A Collection of Anecdotes The Works of Alejandro Jodorowsky Index

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Book SynopsisContemporary scholarship tends to view Albert Camus as a modern, but he himself was conscious of the past and called the transition from Hellenism to Christianity “the true and only turning point in history.” For Camus, modernity was not fully comprehensible without an examination of the aspirations that were first articulated in antiquity and that later received their clearest expression in Christianity. These aspirations amounted to a fundamental reorientation of human life in politics, religious, science, and philosophy. Understanding the nature and achievement of that reorientation became the central task of Christian Metaphysics and Neoplatonism. Primarily known through its inclusion in a French omnibus edition, it has remained one of Camus’s least-read works, yet it marks his first attempt to understand the relationship between Greek philosophy and Christianity as he charted the movement from the Gospels through Gnosticism and Plotinus to what he calls Augustine’s “second revelation” of the Christian faith. Ronald Srigley’s translation of this seminal document helps illuminate these aspects of Camus’ work. His freestanding English edition exposes readers to an important part of Camus’ thought that is often overlooked by those concerned primarily with the book’s literary value and supersedes the extant McBride translation by retaining a greater degree of literalness. Srigley has fully annotated the book to include nearly all of Camus’ original citations and has tracked down many poorly identified sources. His introduction and new preface places the text in the context of Camus’ better-known later work, explicating its relationship to those mature writings and exploring how its themes were reworked in subsequent books. He included a new preface to highlight Camus’ relationship with Christianity, especially to St. Augustine. As the only stand-alone English version of this important work – and a long-overdue critical edition – Srigley’s fluent translation is an essential bench-mark in our understanding of Camus and his place in modern thought.Table of ContentsAcknowledgments Translator's Introduction Translator's Preface CHRISTIAN METAPHYSIC AND NEOPLATONISM Introduction Chap. 1: Evangelicl Christianiy Chap. 2: Gnosis Chap. 3: Mystic Reason Chap. 4: Augustne Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisWhy does the universe exist and what are you supposed to do in it? This question has been addressed by religions since time immemorial, but popular answers often fail to account for obvious aspects of reality. Indeed, if God knows everything, why do we need to learn through pain and suffering? If God is omnipotent, why are we needed to do good? If the universe is fundamentally good, why are wars, crime, and injustice all around us? In modern society, orthodox science takes the rational high-ground and tackles these contradictions by denying the very need for, and the existence of, meaning. Indeed, many of us implicitly accept the notion that rationality somehow contradicts spirituality. That is a modern human tragedy, not only for its insidiousness, but for the fact that it is simply not true. In this book, the author constructs a coherent and logical argument for the meaning of existence, informed by science itself. A framework is laid out wherein all aspects of human existence have a logical, coherent reason and role, including the ones often perceived as negative. The powerful logic of this framework inescapably leads to insightful and inspiring guidelines for living a purposeful and meaningful life.

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Book SynopsisIn Admirable Evasions, Theodore Dalrymple explains why human self-understanding has not been bettered by the false promises of the different schools of psychological thought. Most psychological explanations of human behavior are not only ludicrously inadequate oversimplifications, argues Dalrymple, they are socially harmful in that they allow those who believe in them to evade personal responsibility for their actions and to put the blame on a multitude of scapegoats: on their childhood, their genes, their neurochemistry, even on evolutionary pressures.Dalrymple reveals how the fashionable schools of psychoanalysis, behaviorism, modern neuroscience, and evolutionary psychology all prevent the kind of honest self-examination that is necessary to the formation of human character. Instead, they promote self-obsession without self-examination, and the gross overuse of medicines that affect the mind.Admirable Evasions also considers metaphysical objections to the assumptions of psychology, and suggests that literature is a far more illuminating window into the human condition than psychology could ever hope to be.

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewMyles Burnyeat, the Lawrence Professor of Ancient Philosophy at Cambridge, has revised Levett's translation to catch the charm and wit of the original in modern English, and has written a magnificent introduction and commentary of 250 pages that is lucid, rigorous, fair and un-put-downable. --Philip Howard, The Times (London)A masterly contribution to the understanding of the subject in a work of altogether exceptional intelligence. --Sir Hugh Lloyd-Jones, Christ Church, OxfordBurnyeat's introduction to the Theaetetus is easily the best available treatment of the dialogue; it is clear, stimulating, sympathetic but not uncritical, full of novel insights. Students at all levels, including professional philosophers, cannot fail to learn from it, to enjoy it. A real gem. --Gail Fine, Cornell University

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Book SynopsisHenri Lefebvre has considerable claims to be the greatest living philosopher. His work spans some sixty years and includes original work on a diverse range of subjects, from dialectical materialism to architecture, urbanism and the experience of everyday life.Trade Review"The Production of Space reveals Lefebvre at the height of his powers: imaginative, incisive and immensely suggestive." Derek Gregory, University of British Columbia Table of ContentsTranslator's Acknowledgements. 1. Plan of the Present Work. 2. Social Space. 3. Spatial Architectonics. 4. From Absolute Space to Abstract Space. 5. Contradictory Space. 6. From the Contradictions of Space to Differential Space. 7. Openings and Conclusions. Afterword by David Harvey. Index.

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Book SynopsisA strong and growing intuition in society today is the idea that our thoughts create our own reality. Yet it seems obvious that, try as we might, our lives are not quite what we fantasize. Is the intuition thus wrong? Through a rational, methodic interpretation of meditative insights, the validity of which is substantiated with a compelling scientific literature review, the author constructs hypotheses that reconcile facts with intuition. Mesmerizing narratives of his expeditions into the unconscious suggest an amazing possibility: just as dreams are seemingly autonomous manifestations of our psyche, reality may be an externalized combination of the subconscious dreams of us all, mixed as they are projected onto the fabric of space-time. Perhaps the laws of physics are an emergent by-product of such synchronization of thoughts. Through computer simulations, the author explores the implications of these hypotheses, with conclusions uncannily reminiscent of observed phenomena.

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Book SynopsisA NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER'Hossenfelder stands between us and incomprehension' Daily Mail'Informative and engaging' TLSDo we have free will? Is the universe compatible with God? Do we live in a computer simulation? Does the universe think?Physicists are great at complicated research, but they are less good at telling us why it matters. In this entertaining and groundbreaking book, theoretical physicist Sabine Hossenfelder breaks down why we should care. Drawing on the latest research in quantum mechanics, black holes, string theory and particle physics, Existential Physics explains what modern physics can tell us about the big questions.Filled with counterintuitive insights and including interviews with other leading scientists, this clear and yet profound book will reshape your understanding of science and the limits of what we can know.Trade ReviewHossenfelder may popularise science but she doesn't dumb it down... she stands between us and total incomprehension... That's my kind of science writer * Daily Mail *Hossenfelder is a unique writing talent and a unique science popularizer. You will come away from this book enriched, and will think about the world differently than you did before. * Lawrence Krauss, theoretical physicist and bestselling author *It is hard not to enjoy the bold and easy spirit with which Hossenfelder begins her book... informative and engaging * Times Literary Supplement *[Existential Physics] takes you on a thought provoking, tantalising and illuminating journey. It clearly delineates what physics can tell us about ourselves and the universe we inhabit, and thus what it cannot. * Physics Education *Hossenfelder rightly believes that a better understanding of the limitations of science will benefit society. This comes across loud and clear in her book, which I found fun to read and really made me think about the scientific method and the big questions in life * Physics World *If I had six stars to give this book, I'd do it... Highly recommended' * Popular Science (5* review) *Table of Contents1: DOES THE PAST STILL EXIST? 2: HOW DID THE UNIVERSE BEGIN? HOW WILL IT END? 2.1: IS MATH ALL THERE IS? An Interview with Tim Palmer 3: WHY DOESN'T ANYONE EVER GET YOUNGER? 4: ARE YOU JUST A BAG OF ATOMS? 4.1: IS KNOWLEDGE PREDICTABLE? An Interview with David Deutsch 5: DO COPIES OF US EXIST? 6: HAS PHYSICS RULED OUT FREE WILL? 6.1: IS CONSCIOUSNESS COMPUTABLE? An Interview with Roger Penrose 7: WAS THE UNIVERSE MADE FOR US? 8: DOES THE UNIVERSE THINK? 8.1: CAN WE CREATE A UNIVERSE? An Interview with Zeeya Merali 9: ARE HUMANS PREDICTABLE?

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Book SynopsisFrom the world-renowned physicist and bestselling author of The Elegant Universe and The Fabric of the Cosmos, a captivating exploration of deep time and humanity''s search for purposeIn both time and space, the cosmos is astoundingly vast, and yet is governed by simple, elegant, universal mathematical laws.On this cosmic timeline, our human era is spectacular but fleeting. Someday, we know, we will all die. And, we know, so too will the universe itself.Until the End of Time is Brian Greene''s breathtaking new exploration of the cosmos and our quest to understand it. Greene takes us on a journey across time, from our most refined understanding of the universe''s beginning, to the closest science can take us to the very end. He explores how life and mind emerged from the initial chaos, and how our minds, in coming to understand their own impermanence, seek in different ways to give meaning to experience: in story, myth, religion, creative expression, science, the quest for truth, and our longing for the timeless, or eternal. Through a series of nested stories that explain distinct but interwoven layers of reality-from the quantum mechanics to consciousness to black holes-Greene provides us with a clearer sense of how we came to be, a finer picture of where we are now, and a firmer understanding of where we are headed.Yet all this understanding, which arose with the emergence of life, will dissolve with its conclusion. Which leaves us with one realization: during our brief moment in the sun, we are tasked with the charge of finding our own meaning.Let us embark.Trade ReviewA cracking read...Greene serves up plenty of revelatory detail... If you want to know how everything got here and where it's going, read this book. -- Stephen Bleach * Sunday Times *Until the End of Time is encyclopaedic in its ambition and its erudition, often heartbreaking, stuffed with too many profundities that I wanted to quote, as well as anecdotes from Greene's own life - of which we should wish for more - that had me laughing ... A love letter to the ephemeral cosmic moment when everything is possible. -- Dennis Overbye * New York Times *It takes a storyteller to explain the sciences, and few are as gifted as Brian Greene. There's real wonder in his descriptions of galaxies and planets forming, and of life blooming after that. It is all part of a fleeting moment in the cosmos - one that will eventually end - yet Greene finds meaning and optimism in everything around us. -- Chris Schluep, Amazon Editor

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Book SynopsisAccording to Peter van Inwagen, visible inanimate objects do not, strictly speaking, exist. In defending this controversial thesis, he offers fresh insights on such topics as personal identity, commonsense belief, existence over time, the phenomenon...Trade Review"A fascinating, densely argued, and highly original book on the metaphysics of material objects. The objections van Inwagen raises to the standard views on material parthood are not easily answered. Moreover, his examination of the topic of personal identity is a significant contribution to the philosophy of the mind."—Philosophical Review"Commonplace things such as hawks and handsaws pose philosophical problems at least as imposing as those presented by abstract objects such as numbers and divine beings. Van Inwagen argues vigorously for the view that our world contains . . . only living organisms, the activity of whose various parts constitute a life and against psychological accounts of personal identity. This gives only a rough idea of the contents of this rich and rewarding book."—Review of Metaphysics"There is much to bee learned from this book. . . . Material Beings is a refreshing example of straight-on, full-speed metaphysics. Van Inwagen goes where his arguments lead him—and they lead him to some remarkable places indeed."—Philosophy and Phenomenological Research

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Book SynopsisImmanuel Kant's Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals ranks alongside Plato's Republic and Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics as one of the most profound and influential works in moral philosophy ever writtenTable of ContentsIntroduction Note on the translation and the text Select bibliography A chronology of Immanuel Kant Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals 1: Transition from common to philosophical rational knowledge of morality 2: Transition from popular moral philosophy to the metaphysics of morals 3: Transition from the metaphysics of morals to the critique of pure practical reason Explanatory notes Glossary Index

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Book SynopsisPeter Adamson presents a lively introduction to six hundred years of European philosophy, from the beginning of the ninth century to the end of the fourteenth century. The medieval period is one of the richest in the history of philosophy, yet one of the least widely known. Adamson introduces us to some of the greatest thinkers of the Western intellectual tradition, including Peter Abelard, Anselm of Canterbury, Thomas Aquinas, John Duns Scotus, William of Ockham, and Roger Bacon. And the medieval period was notable for the emergence of great women thinkers, including Hildegard of Bingen, Marguerite Porete, and Julian of Norwich. Original ideas and arguments were developed in every branch of philosophy during this period - not just philosophy of religion and theology, but metaphysics, philosophy of logic and language, moral and political theory, psychology, and the foundations of mathematics and natural science.Trade ReviewAccessible and comprehensive. * Alban McCoy, The Tablet, Books of the Year 2019 *Peter Adamson's Medieval Philosophy gives fantastically compendious account of medieval philosophy. Adamson manages to be accessible, lucid, witty, incisive; luminously conveying the rambunctious ambivalences of the logic-chopping, devout, doubting, bawdy, bloodthirsty, mystical medievals. * Jane O'Grady, The Tablet *a volume that— despite its weight and heft—one could easily give to a non-philosopher as a first introduction to the field. For even the most obscure authors (such as that most prolific of medieval philosophers, Anon) and the most arcane of topics comes to life under Adamson's magic touch. But what is most impressive about the book is its sheer scope of knowledge. . . . If you want a good, light-touch, yet still not glossing over the difficulties, introduction to medieval philosophy, this is the book for you. * Sara L. Uckelman, Philosophical Quarterly *Adamson's history of medieval philosophy has, among its many merits, two great ones. First, is very clearly written and philosophically acute. . . .A second merit is that it proposes an updated interpretation of medieval philosophy, obtained by taking into account the most dominant trends present in literature. This makes Peter Adamson's volume a fine piece of work and a recommended volume. The history of medieval philosophy is investigated in its depth and full development, no significant gap can be found indeed in the proposed reconstruction. * Fabrizio Amerini, Philosophical Inquiries *Let me say at once on the evidence of this volume, [Adamson] succeeds brilliantly. Over some 78 sections he covers a huge range of figures ... Special attention is given - and rightly so - to female philosophers, such as Catherine of Siena ... This book (and the others in the series), which are a delight to read, will be of great interest to general readers, aside from students of culture. * Peter Costello, The Irish Catholic *Adamson writes with a light style, beginning each short chapter with an anecdote, which rewards both sticking with the long narrative and dipping in and out. * Nick Mattiske, Journey, Isolation Reading Recommendations *A staggering philosophical achievement ... the clarity of the animated text is further enhanced by the authors humour, bringing a light touch to complex matters ... This volume will surely attain classic status, and can be read either sequentially or consulted as a detailed encyclopaedia of mediaeval philosophy and its variegated personalities. * Paradigm Explorer *Table of ContentsPreface Early Medieval Philosophy 1: Arts of Darkness: Introduction to Medieval Philosophy 2: Charles in Charge: Alcuin and the Carolingian Period 3: Grace Notes: Eriugena and the Predestination Controversy 4: Much Ado About Nothing: Eriugena's Periphyseon 5: Philosophers Anonymous: The Roots of Scholasticism 6: Virgin Territory: Peter Damian on Changing the Past 7: A Canterbury Tale: Anselm's Life and Works 8: Somebody's Perfect: Anselm's Ontological Argument 9: All or Nothing: The Problem of Universals 10: Get Thee to a Nunnery: Heloise and Abelard 11: It's the Thought that Counts: Abelard's Ethics 12: Learn Everything: The Victorines 13: Like Father, Like Son: Debates over the Trinity 14: On the Shoulders of Giants: Philosophy at Chartres 15: The Good Book: Philosophy of Nature 16: One of a Kind: Gilbert of Poitiers on Individuation 17: Two Swords: Early Medieval Political Philosophy 18: Law and Order: Peter Lombard and Gratian 19: Leading Light: Hildegard of Bingen 20: Rediscovery Channel: Translations into Latin 21: Straw Men: The Rise of the Universities The Thirteenth Century 22: No Uncertain Terms: Thirteenth Century Logic 23: Full of Potential: Thirteenth Century Physics 24: Stayin' Alive: Thirteenth Century Psychology 25: It's All Good: The Transcendentals 26: Do the Right Thing: Thirteenth Century Ethics 27: A Light That Never Goes Out: Robert Grosseteste 28: Origin of Species: Roger Bacon 29: Stairway to Heaven: Bonaventure 30: Your Attention Please: Peter Olivi 31: None for Me, Thanks: Franciscan Poverty 32: Begin the Beguine: Hadewijch and Mechtild 33: Binding Arbitration: Robert Kilwardby 34: Animal, Vegetable, Mineral: Albert the Great's Natural Philosophy 35: The Shadow Knows: Albert the Great's Metaphysics 36: The Ox Heard Round the World: Thomas Aquinas 37: Everybody Needs Some Body: Aquinas on Soul and Knowledge 38: What Comes Naturally: Ethics in Albert and Aquinas 39: What Pleases the Prince: The Rule of Law 40: Onward Christian Soldiers: Just War Theory 41: Paris When it Sizzles: The Condemnations 42: Masters of the University:

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Book SynopsisVagueness is the study of concepts that admit borderline cases. The epistemology of vagueness concerns attitudes we should have towards propositions we know to be borderline. On this basis Andrew Bacon develops a new theory of vagueness in which vagueness is fundamentally a property of propositions, explicated in terms of its role in thought.Trade ReviewThough I find Bacon's view of vagueness impossible to accept, I still think this is a terrific book. Bacon has a wonderful sense for which issues are substantive and which merely superficial, and in focusing our attention on Rational Supervenience and Indifference, he has opened up some genuinely new questions. In addition to the main line of thought sketched above, the book contains illuminating treatments of many connected topics (for example, the connections between necessity and determinacy). It will richly reward anyone with an interest in its subject. * John MacFarlane, Philosophical Review *This is a remarkable book. I accept its main thesis, that propositional vagueness is more fundamental than sentential vagueness. I am in favor of treating vague beliefs in probabilistic terms, and the investigation of how we should reason with vague beliefs and vague desires is a valuable project. There has been relatively little work on this, and Bacon's book goes much further than any before. The idea of using Jeffrey conditioning to explain the impact of vague beliefs is an excellent one. * Dorothy Edgington, Journal of Philosophy *Table of ContentsPart I: Background 1: Non-Classical and Nihilistic Approaches 2: Classical Approaches: An Overview of the Current Debate 3: An Outline of a Theory of Propositional Vagueness Part II: Epistemological Matters 4: Vagueness and Language 5: Vagueness and Ignorance 6: Vagueness and Evidence 7: Probabilism, Assertion and Higher-order Vagueness 8: Vagueness and Uncertainty 9: Vagueness and Decision 10: Vagueness and Desire Part III: Logical Matters 11: Vague Propositions 12: Vagueness and Precision 13: Symmetry Semantics 14: Vagueness and the World 15: Vagueness and Modality 16: Vague Objects 17: Beyond Vagueness 18: Appendices

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Book SynopsisThe Moral Universe explores central questions in metaethics concerning the nature of moral reality, its fundamental laws, its relation to the natural world, and its normative authority. It employs a novel philosophical method to offer the most sustained and sophisticated development of nonnatural moral realism to date. The authors advance new ways of answering these questions, contending that moral standards regarding what to do and how to be are not only objectively authoritative, but essentially so. Rather than arising from personal schemes or collective ideals, morality flows from the nature of things. One of the principal aims of the book is to show how this view accommodates and explains a wide range of data concerning the metaphysical and normative dimensions of morality. Along the way, the book offers novel characterizations of moral realism and nonnaturalism, defends and explains the existence of substantive moral conceptual truths, supplies a new treatment of moral supervenien

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Book SynopsisRenowned philosopher of science David Z Albert offers an innovative approach to understanding the fundamental physical underpinnings of quantum mechanics. Albert shows how we can discern all the baffling features of quantum theory in a simple picture of the pushings and pullings of concrete and high-dimensional, fundamental physical “stuff.”Trade ReviewThe physical interpretation of quantum mechanics has been a controversial riddle since the 1920s, when Niels Bohr argued that the atom’s inner workings could not be described in physical terms. Today, many philosophers and physicists disagree, but there’s no consensus on an alternative. Philosopher David Albert’s provocative book argues, in three essays, that Bohr’s quantum-measurement problem starts to make sense if the wave function is understood as the fundamental physical ‘stuff’ of the Universe. -- Andrew Robinson * Nature *An enormously significant contribution to the philosophy of physics and to metaphysics more generally. In his usual charming and deceptively easy-to-follow style, Albert proposes a novel account of the relation between the fundamental and the non-fundamental—one of the central issues in metaphysics. This is sure to generate a great deal of discussion in the field. -- Barry Loewer, Distinguished Professor of Philosophy, Rutgers UniversityA must-read for anyone interested in the philosophy of physics or adjacent portions of metaphysics. Wave-function realism’s offensive is advanced, its defenses bolstered, its intuitive core reimagined. Insightful and deep and challenging and (of course) fun—vintage Albert. -- Theodore Sider, author of The Tools of Metaphysics and the Metaphysics of ScienceAlbert presents a strikingly original picture of the structure of quantum mechanics and how it describes the world. He shows, by construction, what it is that unifies approaches like the Ghirardi-Rimini-Weber theory, Bohmian mechanics, and the many-worlds formulations. For those who understand the quantum measurement problem and have begun to think carefully about how to solve it, this is an essential read. -- Jeffrey Barrett, author of The Conceptual Foundations of Quantum MechanicsFor a quarter of a century, David Albert has been one of the chief advocates of the wave-function-realist interpretation of quantum mechanics. In this beautifully written and provocative new book, Albert presents the case, as he sees it, for wave-function realism and its surprising higher-dimensional metaphysical framework. -- Alyssa Ney, author of The World in the Wave Function: A Metaphysics for Quantum PhysicsQuantum-mechanical phenomena prove that somehow or other classical physics—and even ‘common sense’—have led us massively astray about the fundamental structure of the world. Albert, in his inimitable conversational style, digs deeply into the argument that our intuitive notion of the structure of physical space lies at the root of the problem. -- Tim Maudlin, author of Philosophy of Physics: Quantum Theory

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Book SynopsisEnnead VI.4–5, originally written as a single treatise, contains Plotinus’ most general and sustained exposition of the relationship between the intelligible and sensible realms, addressing and coalescing two central issues in Platonism: the nature of the soul–body relationship and the nature of participation. Its main question is, How can soul animate bodies without sharing in their extension? The treatise seems to have had considerable impact: it is much reflected in Porphyry’s important work, Sententiae, and the doctrine of reception according to the capacity of the recipient, for which this treatise is the main source, resonated in medieval thinkers.Trade ReviewThis new English translation of, and commentary on, Plotinus, Ennead VI.4-5, the joint achievement of the Plotinian scholars Eyjólfur K. Emilsson and Steven K. Strange, combines philological rigor with philosophical insight"". - Bryn Mawr Classical Review

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Book SynopsisPeter Adamson presents an engaging and wide-ranging introduction to two great intellectual cultures: Byzantium and the Italian Renaissance. First he tells the story of philosophy in the Eastern Christian world, from the 8th century to the 15th century, then he explores the rebirth of philosophy in Italy in the era of Machiavelli and Galileo.Trade ReviewEach brief chapter immediately captures the interest of the reader in a way that is entertaining, informative, and a genuine pleasure to read. Excellent notes and bibliography of further reading. * P. A. Streveler, CHOICE *The understanding that philosophy is a purely rational endeavor is a form of presentism that arises out ofmodern rationalism and, more generally... we should be grateful to Adamson for addressing the issue and for providing students of Byzantine and Renaissance philosophy with an accessible overview of the respective material. * Speculum 98/4 *Table of ContentsPreface Philosophy in Byzantium 1: The Empire Strikes Back: Introduction to Byzantine Philosophy 2: On the Eastern Front: Philosophy in Syriac and Armenian 3: Don't Picture This: Iconoclasm 4: Behind Enemy Lines: John of Damascus 5: Collectors' Items: Photius and Byzantine Compilations 6: Consul of the Philosophers: Michael Psellos 7: Hooked on Classics: Italos and the Debate over Pagan Learning 8: Purple Prose: Byzantine Political Philosophy 9: Elements of Style: Rhetoric in Byzantium 10: Past Masters: Byzantine Historiography 11: Queen of the Sciences: Anna Komnene and her Circle 12: Wiser than Men: Gender in Byzantium 13: Just Measures: Law, Money, and War in Byzantium 14: Made by Hand: Byzantine Manuscripts 15: Georgia on My Mind: Petritsi and the Proclus Revival 16: People of the South: Byzantium and Islam 17: Do the Math: Science in the Palaiologan Renaissance 18: Through His Works You Shall Know Him: Palamas and Hesychasm 19: United We Fall: Latin Philosophy in Byzantium 20: Platonic Love: Gemistos Plethon 21: Istanbul (not Constantinople): the Later Orthodox Tradition The Italian Renaissance 22: Old News: Introduction to the Renaissance 23: Greeks Bearing Gifts: Byzantine Scholars in Italy 24: Republic of Letters: Italian Humanism 25: Literary Criticism: Lorenzo Valla 26: Difficult to be Good: Humanist Ethics 27: Chance Encounters: Reviving Hellenistic philosophy 28: We Built This City: Christine de Pizan 29: More Rare Than the Phoenix: Italian Women Humanists 30: All About Eve: the Defense of Women 31: I'd Like to Thank the Academy: Florentine Platonism 32: Footnotes to Plato: Marsilio Ficino 33: True Romance: Theories of Love 34: As Far as East from West: Jewish Philosophy in Renaissance Italy 35: The Count of Concord: Pico della Mirandola 36: What a Piece of Work is Man: Manetti and Pico on Human Nature 37: Bonfire of the Vanities: Savonarola 38: The Sweet Restraints of Liberty: Republicanism and Civic Humanism 39: No More Mr Nice Guy: Machiavelli 40: Sense of Humors: Machiavelli on Republicanism 41: The Teacher of Our Actions: Renaissance Historiography 42: No Place Like Home: Renaissance Utopias 43: Greed is Good: Renaissance Economics 44: Town and Gown: Italian Universities 45: I'd Like to Thank the Lyceum: Aristotle in Renaissance Italy 46: Of Two Minds: Pomponazzi and Nifo on the Intellect 47: There and Back Again: Zabarella on Scientific Method 48: The Measure of All Things: Mathematics and Art 49: Just What the Doctor Ordered: Renaissance Medicine 50: Man of Discoveries: Girolamo Cardano 51: Spirits in the Material World: Telesio and Campanella on Nature 52: The Men Who Saw Tomorrow: Renaissance Magic and Astrology 53: Boundless Enthusiasm: Giordano Bruno 54: The Harder They Fall: Galileo and the Renaissance

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"Aiming to extract life lessons from the philosophy of Spinoza, this vibrant study focusses on the concept of ‘homo liber,’ or the free person, a supremely rational figure continually striving for power and virtue. . . . Spinoza’s work serves as a hopeful, timely statement of what the truth-seeking individual can accomplish." * New Yorker *"As an accessible introduction to the complex thought of Spinoza, it is a success."---Jeffrey Collins, Wall Street Journal"If you want to become a better person, you ought to study the philosophy of Baruch Spinoza. That at least is the message of Steven Nadler’s delightful new book."---Jonathan Rée, Literary Review"A helpful explication of [Spinoza’s] ideas about ethics, the afterlife, and human nature." * Kirkus Reviews *"If you want the clearest and most sympathetic introduction as exists to Spinoza’s ideas . . . then Nadler’s your man. This, his latest book, is a must-read for our present, troubled times."---David Conway, Jewish Chronicle

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Book SynopsisHow can human beings, who are liable to error, possess knowledge, since the grounds on which we believe do not rule out that we are wrong? Andrea Kern argues that we can disarm this skeptical doubt by conceiving knowledge as an act of a ratio­nal capacity. In this book, she develops a metaphysics of the mind as existing through knowledge of itself.Trade ReviewThis is an excellent book. It is lucid, forceful, and rich in thought-provoking ideas. I believe it is one of the most interesting and potentially significant contributions to the field of epistemology of the last decade. Given the richness of its discussion, however, Kern’s book will be interesting not just to professional epistemologists, but to a wide philosophical readership. -- Matthew Boyle, University of ChicagoThis is an extraordinary, daring book. It is an original and powerful contribution to epistemology that reorients, or gets beneath, a number of debates that have shaped the discipline in the last few decades. It reaches beyond the limits of epistemology, locating its results concerning human knowledge within a metaphysics of the human mind, a metaphysics that articulates the self-understanding internal to our existence. -- Christoph Menke, Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität, Frankfurt am Main

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Book SynopsisFor the Pre-Socratic philosophers the soul was the source of movement and sensation, while for Plato it was the seat of being, metaphysically distinct from the body that it was forced temporarily to inhabit. Plato's student Aristotle was determined to test the truth of both these beliefs against the emerging sciences of logic and biology. His examination of the huge variety of living organisms - the enormous range of their behaviour, their powers and their perceptual sophistication - convinced him of the inadequacy both of a materialist reduction and of a Platonic sublimation of the soul. In De Anima, he sought to set out his theory of the soul as the ultimate reality of embodied form and produced both a masterpiece of philosophical insight and a psychology of perennially fascinating subtlety.For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics representTable of ContentsDe Anima (On the Soul)ForewordIntroductionI. EntelechismII. The Life of AristotleIII. The Philosophical BackgroundIV. The Development and Scope of EntelechismV. Perception, Imagination and DesireVI. IntellectVII. Entelechism in the Modern DebateVIII. ConclusionIX. The TranslationGlossaryOn the SoulBook IThe Traditional BackgroundChapter One: The Scope of the WorkChapter Two: Some Earlier TheoriesChapter Three: Comments on Earlier Views IChapter Four: Comments on Earlier Views IIChapter Five: General RemarksBook IIThe Nature of the SoulChapter One: Soul as FormChapter Two: The Psychic Hierarchy IChapter Three: The Psychic Hierarchy IINutritionChapter Four: Methodological Remarks; NutritionSense-perceptionChapter Five: SensationChapter Six: The Types of Sense-objectChapter Seven: SightChapter Eight: HearingChapter Nine: SmellChapter Ten: TasteChapter Eleven: TouchChapter Twelve: Perception as the Reception of Form without MatterBook IIISense-perceptionChapter One: General Problems of Perception IChapter Two: General Problems of Perception IIImaginationChapter Three: ImaginationIntellectChapter Four: IntellectChapter Five: Intellect; Active and PassiveChapter Six: Intellect; Simple and ComplexChapter Seven: Appendix to Sense and MindChapter Eight: SUmmary of Account of Sense-perception and ThoughtMotivationChapter Nine: Motivation; The Division of the SoulChapter Ten: MotivationChapter Eleven: Appendix to MotivationAppendix: Animal SurvivalChapter Thirteen: The Teleological Context IChapter Fourteen: The Teleological Context IINotesBibliography

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Book SynopsisTim Button explores the relationship between words and world; between semantics and scepticism. A certain kind of philosopherthe external realistworries that appearances might be radically deceptive; we might all, for example, be brains in vats, stimulated by an infernal machine. But anyone who entertains the possibility of radical deception must also entertain a further worry: that all of our thoughts are totally contentless. That worry is just incoherent. We cannot, then, be external realists, who worry about the possibility of radical deception. Equally, though, we cannot be internal realists, who reject all possibility of deception. We must position ourselves somewhere between internal realism and external realism, but we cannot hope to say exactly where. We must be realists, for what that is worth, and realists within limits. In establishing these claims, Button critically explores and develops several themes from Hilary Putnam''s work: the model-theoretic arguments; the connectioTrade ReviewButton has written a conceptually rich, argumentatively deep, and clearly argued book on some of the deepest and most puzzling problems in metaphysics. I am confident that it will find the large number of readers it doubtlessly deserves. * Jan Westerhoff, Mind *Table of ContentsA EXTERNAL REALISM; B THE TENACITY OF CARTESIAN ANGST; C DISSECTING BRAINS IN VATS; D REALISM WITHIN LIMITS; APPENDICES

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Book SynopsisThe One and the Many presents metaphysics as an integrated whole, drawing on on Aquinas' themes, structure, and insight.Trade Review“Both students and teacher will benefit from a highly readable account of major themes in Aquinas’ metaphysics. The material is presented in a way accessible to those unfamiliar with the formidable Aristotelian apparatus usually presumed in textbook presentations of Aquinas. Clarke divides his book into short, easily digestible chapters.” —Theological Studies“This is the book that many of us have long been waiting for: the systematic exposition of the Thomistically inspired but creative metaphysical system of one of the foremost philosophers in the Thomistic tradition. The work is not a recapitulation of standard Thomistic metaphysics so much as a re-creation, on Thomistic principles, of a contemporary metaphysical view that pushes Thomas’ principles to new developments and applications. Clarke stresses participation in the act of existence, substance as dynamic, system as a new metaphysical category, philosophic ramifications of evolution and relativity, and the great circle of being embodied in the universe. The book is well suited to both as a text in a course in metaphysics and as an historically conscious source of insights for the professional philosopher.” —James W. Felt, S.J., John Nobili Professor of Philosophy, Santa Clara University“This book is rich in metaphysical insight and suggestiveness. At the same time it manages to be a rigorous presentation of Thomistic metaphysics suitable to contemporary life.” —Encounter"Clarke has written a very interesting and provocative book, one that is likely to inspire future students to study metaphysics in the Thomistic tradition. We are especially indebted to Clarke for his willingness to engage modern science and his contribution to the revival of metaphysics as a systematic study." —The Thomist“W. Norris Clarke is one of the giants of North American Thomism. For over fifty years he has been a learned and illuminating interpreter of the metaphysics of Aquinas . . . in this book he provides the most comprehensive presentation to date of his distinctive philosophical and metaphysical thinking. Overall, Clarke had produced a most stimulating and thought-provoking book on the subject of metaphysics. It is replete with insights and written with a rare generosity of spirit which is most uplifting to read.” —The Heythrop Journal“[A] masterly account of the metaphysical system which he has worked out over a lifetime of historical research, teaching, and writing. Those who have been waiting for this account will not be disappointed. The One and The Manyis a very important book and its contribution to speculative metaphysics and to the Thomistic tradition is outstanding.” —Maritain Notebook“...crisp, clear and easy to understand metaphysical arguments. It presents a well-justified Thomistic metaphysical theory. The importance of this book goes far beyond that of a good Thomistic textbook. Its ahistorical approach should enable The One and the Many to become a voice in contemporary discussions of metaphysical issues.” —The Review of Metaphysics“After a lifetime in the study and teaching of philosophy, especially to undergraduates at Fordham University, Norris Clarke has produced a valuable textbook of metaphysics, inspired by St. Thomas, and adapted to issues of the present day. It does not just repeat what St. Thomas said, but retrieves it, completes it, appropriates it, and systematises it.” —Australasian Catholic Record“Norris Clarke is a master of metaphysics, and one to whom others can well appretice themselves, since he is himself so astute an apprentice of classical figures in philosophy. This intended advanced text for systematic metaphysics is just that: advanced yet pedagogically planned; systematic yet suffused with heart. A sterling example from an exemplary oeuvre.” — David Burrell, C.S.C.

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Book SynopsisA definitive and invaluable re-assessment of the last decade of speculative realism.

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Book SynopsisCarol Zaleski''s book is the first objective, comprehensive survey of the mass of evidence surrounding near-death experiences: the extraordinary visions and ecstatic feelings reported by people who have survived a close brush with death. Comparing recent near-death narratives with those of a much earlier period she finds both profound similarities and striking contrasts.Trade Review' An extremely interesting piece of work, and one that offers many shrewd insights.' New York Times'one of those books which ... has elegance and readability in direct proportion to its historical and anthropological learning ... whether one is wired to accept a religious or a hardcore naturalist interpretation of the constancy of such intimations, it is good to know they may be there.' City Limits

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Book SynopsisIn this work, the Catholic philosopher Etienne Gilson deals with one of the most important and perplexing metaphysical problems: the relation between our notion of God and demonstrations of his existence.Trade Review"[I] commend to another generation of seekers and students this deeply earnest and yet wistfully gentle little essay on the most important (and often, at least nowadays, the most neglected) of all metaphysical—and existential—questions. . . . The historical sweep is breathtaking, the one-liners arresting, and the style, both intellectual and literary, altogether engaging."—Jaroslav Pelikan, from the foreword

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Book SynopsisLove - unconditional, selfless, unchanging, sincere, and totally accepting - is worshipped today as the West's only universal religion. To challenge it is one of our few remaining taboos. The author does just that, dissecting our resilient ruling ideas of love and showing how they are the product of a long and powerful cultural heritage.Trade Review"May could just have achieved the seemingly impossible and produced a truly original philosophy of love... May is able to draw out what is true in each age’s perception of love, discard what is misleading, and synthesize the result into the most persuasive account of love’s nature I have ever read."—Financial Times"Rich, provocative and illuminating."—Jane O’Grady, Times Higher Education"Intellectually engaging . . . Provocative."—Charlotte Allen, The Wall Street Journal"May could just have achieved the seemingly impossible and produced a truly original philosophy of love... May is able to draw out what is true in each age’s perception of love, discard what is misleading, and synthesise the result into the most persuasive account of love’s nature I have ever read."—Financial Times"It’s a big question: what is love? May plunders Western poetry, philosophy and psychology to find answers, tracing our understanding from religious to romantic to ossified. Thought-provoking stuff."—Holly Kyte, Sunday Telegraph"This book deserves to rank with Denis de Rougemont’s classic Love in the Western World. Readers…will gain much from May’s well-crafted study."—Library Journal"[May’s] discussion…provides a coherent narrative that is aided by his illustrative writing."—Publishers Weekly"Almost intimidatingly erudite and wide-ranging… May asks why attitudes to love haven’t changed over the centuries when those things associated with it, like sex and marriage, have changed enormously. We still expect too much from it, a hangover from Romanticism, and must abandon the old opposites (love as self-sacrificing, love as self-pleasing) for a new theory of love."—Lesley McDowell, Sunday Herald "a challenging and thought-provoking study" — Good Book Guide"A powerfully demystifying critique . . . that aims to show what love can and cannot mean in our lives."—John Gray'A beautifully written and fascinating account of the cultural history of love. Simon May gives a vindication of love that is both deeply insightful and inspiring, and, whether you believe that God is love or that Love is god, you will find your portrait in this book and rejoice in it.' - Roger Scruton'May's enquiry into the nature of love is an amazing tour de force: surprising, provocative, refreshing and instructive by turns, it surpasses everything hitherto written on this subject in its scope and ambition.' - A.C. Grayling 'Simon May's Love is that rarest of achievements: scholarship as inspired illumination. Fluent, witty, humane, May explores Western concepts of love from the Torah to Romanticism and on to the “fascinating paradox” that the liberation of sex and marriage in our day coexists with retrograde, and at times destructive, notions of love. May offers a corrective, and the reasoning that takes us there is an utterly riveting adventure.' -Wendy Steiner, author of The Real Real Thing: The Model in the Mirror of Art

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Book SynopsisArgues that 'nobility of spirit' is the quintessence of a civilized world. This book identifies nobility of spirit in the life and work of Spinoza and of Thomas Mann; explores the quest for the good society in our own times; and addresses the pursuit of truth and freedom that engaged figures as disparate as Socrates and Leone Ginzburg.Trade Review“Rob Riemen has written a rare and much needed book, one which we appreciate not because we necessarily agree with its views, but for its commitment to ideas and its passion for imagination. It is a timely reminder of how imaginative knowledge can become a way of questioning, connecting to and changing the world as well as ourselves.”—Azar Nafisi -- Azar Nafisi“The author’s vast cultural knowledge, his firm commitment to liberal ideals and the agility of his pen make these essays an invaluable guide to orient us amid the great political and cultural problems—and the ideological confusions—of the world in which we live.”—Mario Vargas Llosa -- Mario Vargas Llosa“Rob Riemen's essays spring from a deep and firm conviction—they are like water from artesian wells and this is, I think, the main reason why they are so important and refreshing.”—Adam Zagajewski -- Adam Zagajewski“Written with such elegance, erudition and skill, a singular reflection of fundamental problems, virtues and vices, of our time.”—Ivan Klima -- Ivan Klima"Mr. Riemen's Nobility of Spirit is intended as a meditation on the forces that threaten civilization and, no less important, on the forces that are desperately needed to sustain it."—Darrin M. McMahon, Wall Street Journal -- Darrin M. McMahon * Wall Street Journal *"Agree or disagree with Riemen's profound, ambitious and high-minded plea, you will be thinking about his words for a long time. It's been ages since a work of non-fiction moved us this way. Read it."—The Elegant Variation (Blog) * The Elegant Variation (Blog) *"Riemen's study is beautifully crafted and luminously intelligent."—Richard Wolin, Dissent -- Richard Wolin * Dissent *"With beautiful clarity, Rob Riemen renders complex ideas simple and accessible to every earnest reader. His work is the embodiment of civilization: what it has sometimes briefly been, and what it can be again."—Cynthia Ozick -- Cynthia Ozick

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